Intersections: geology and art

Student experience 26 June 2020

Bella Beney is a BSc Hons Geology student at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, currently progressing from her second to her third year of study. Bella is also a talented musician, and I asked her to share her music and her thoughts about how geology and the outdoors may have influenced her artistic pursuits.

Bella learned to play the piano as a child, and always enjoyed writing her own lyrics and creating musical interpretations. Choir at secondary school gave her the experience of performing at large events, and in 2015 Bella entered a song-writing competition and ranked within the top 10 from her age category. The step away from classical training into original composition gave her the confidence to focus on her own music. Bella’s sound has changed over the years – it is acoustic, folk/country in style, but her newer music is slightly more experimental and alt-pop/rock.

Bella has been making the most of Manchester’s vibrant nightlife (whilst keeping up with her studies!), performing gigs before lockdown in the city at venues including Fuel, Indigo, Studio Bar, Squirrels, Thirsty Scholar, Lock 91, Gulliver’s, The Crafty Pig, The Salford Arms and The Fitzgerald.

Geology and music are not the strange bedfellows you might assume. Combining the two keeps Bella busy and there is in fact crossover. Bella loves the outdoors and this is infused throughout her music – natural sounds and lyrical imagery. Not only that, but the structural patterns of refolded folds within rocks have been the basis of her recent EP cover art. Watch Bella’s video to gain insight into the creative process.

Bella has been inventive in bringing her two passions together – geology and art – proving that interdisciplinarity can inspire some amazing work.

You can visit Bella’s website and follow her on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Soundcloud to listen to her music and find out more.

Interview by Jemma Stewart.

artcompositionGeologygeology rockslyricsmusicoutdoorsrefolded foldsstructural geology